Buzzard field hit by North Sea pipeline outage

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - The 200,000 barrel a day
Buzzard oil field in the North Sea is among dozens that must
stop pumping as a key pipeline powers down due to a strike
planned this weekend at a Scottish refinery, Nexen Inc, the
field's operator, said on Friday.

"As they go through those procedures, then we'll get notice
to do similar things. It just kind of piggybacks off that,"
Nexen spokesman Mike Harris said. "Then we wait until they tell
us we can bring it back up again."

BP Plc, which runs the Forties pipeline that supplies about
half of Britain's crude, started shutdown procedures on Friday.
The Grangemouth refinery, about 34 km (21 miles) northwest of
Edinburgh and the target of the labor dispute, supplies
electricity to the pipeline.

The situation was a factor in a jump of more than $2 in
world oil prices on Friday to $118.52 a barrel.

Nexen is one of numerous Canadian energy companies with
operations in the North Sea. Others with production affected by
shutdown of the 700,000 bpd pipeline include Talisman Energy
Inc, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd and Oilexco Inc

The Forties pipeline system ships crude from about 70 oil
fields. The strike at the Ineos-operated refinery, due to start
Sunday, has raised fears of fuel shortages in Scotland and
northern England.

Harris said it will take time for the Buzzard platform to
return to normal rates when the pipeline starts running again.

"You don't flip it on and get straight to big rates again.
It probably takes up to two days to ramp up to where we were
before," he said.
Continued...